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The Apple Car - what do we know?

There’s been a flurry of news the last week about the rumoured car being made by Apple. But, if numerous reports are to be believed, the Apple Car is more than just speculation.

So what do we know?

The Wall Street Journal’s Daisuke Wakabayashi and Mike Ramsey wrote a report “Apple Gears Up to Challenge Tesla in Electric Cars”. The article says now Apple has revolutionised music and phones, it’s now aiming at a much bigger target: automobiles, with an Apple-branded electric vehicle that ‘resembles a minivan’.

Apparently Apple has several hundred employees working on ‘Project Titan’, as well as some former hotshots from the automotive industry, including former Ford engineer Steve Zadesky, and Johann Jungwirth, from Mercedes Benz.

The Apple car is electric, which fits in with the company’s recent announcement that it is building a $US850 million solar plant to power its California operations. According to the Business Insider, Apple is trying hard to recruit from Tesla, with at least 50 former Tesla employees on its books, according to LinkedIn.

Fuelling the rumours are photographs of a car allegedly registered to Apple that has been spotted around the Bay Area, sporting a high-tech camera rig. First thoughts jump to a Google Street View competitor, but with the Project Titan rumours circling, many insiders are leaning towards a self-driving car technology.

All the leaks coming out, including the not-so-subtle camera vehicle driving around the place, have many thinking Apple is deliberately fuelling the speculation.